What does an onion market have to do with AIDS?
In my capacity as an HIV/AIDS activist and
consultant I have extensively traversed the expanse of India - red
light districts in Mumbai, octroi posts in Haryana, tribal areas in
Karnataka, HIV/AIDS inflicted zones in the North East - to spread
awareness about the debilitating disease.
During one such visit to Lasalgaon village in Nashik district, I
managed to strike up a conversation with a truck driver, his
profession making him part of one of the most vulnerable groups to
the disease in India. The conversation may have taken a
labyrinthine route, but we finally arrived at the topic of
HIV/AIDS. When the trucker divulged that the dreaded disease did in
fact have a cure, I pressed him to reveal what later only succeeded
in shocking me. "Having sexual intercourse with a virgin or an
animal can kill the deadly virus," he said confidently. My eyes
smarted. Not because I was standing in Lasalgaon, Asia's largest
onion market, but because the country's ignorance about HIV/AIDS
reduced me to tears.
And it's not just in far flung villages where such beliefs are maintained. The Indian urban scape - school kids, college goers and working professionals - is also home to such myths. Things may have improved in the last five years owing to increased exposure and Internet access, but the educated lot still has much to learn about HIV/AIDS.
During my career spanning 27 years, I have stumbled upon the following myths that surround HIV/
